That's a picture of the setlist from Friday night's Pavement show in Central Park, the fourth of four Summerstage shows, and the fifth of five NYC shows that kicked off Sunday night at Williamsburg Waterfront. They substituted 'Heaven Is A Truck' for 'Fight Generation', and those hands reportedly belong to the woman who gave birth to Mark Ibold. More later.

amazing show, sloppier than the others (lots of false starts) but "Grounded" gets better every night. Not a fan of "Heaven Is A Truck" but that long guitar outro was aces and there was no way they were going to top Tues or Wed's "Fight This Generation"

i liked wednesday the best. this setlist was kinda iffy--because they got rid of fight generation, and also because i really hate "rattled by the rush." maybe it's because they made fun of it on beavis and butthead. great show, though! just a lil less intense

whether or not you like heaven is a truck, it was definitely not "by the numbers with no feeling." it was about twice as long as the album version, with all kind of new (which is exciting to people who know the album versions by heart) guitar lines and breakdowns/buildups.

maybe I'm speculating way too hard but it seemed tense tonight. there were at least three false starts and malkmus seemed pissed off at mark ibold and spiral. at one point, nastanovich was rambling about some shit as usual and steve started to look annoyed so mark ibold started trying to talk into steve's mic but nastanovich wouldn't stop. it was hilarious but they all looked unhappy.

also nastanovich said "pavement and the jicks" after the looong heaven is a truck jam. which by the way, was not appropriate for standing in million degree stickiness.

i'm gonna pack hummus so deep up your ass you'll vomit it for months. If I knew you I'd kill you and not a jury would find me guilty. hummus dude you are the ultimate douchebag pussy with a boring schtick that is flogging a very dead horse. please stfu and go kill yourself as your pathetic life is not worth living.

I went to all the NY shows! Wednesday was by the best of them all. The Brooklyn waterfront and tuesday felt like warm up shows. They were sloppier and less energetic. See Pavement in the Crooked Rain Pavers!

yes, Tuesday was fantastic, and from what has been posted repeatedly by people who saw all of them, probably the best of the run, but it was also the only night that Summer Babe was omitted, and many of the best tracks from S&E were missing too, played on other nights - Singed, Loretta, Here, Zurich.
Fame Throwa was left out for all of the shows, which is odd.
There were no Twilight songs on Tues either.
But there were many WowZow songs, and it was apparently the tightest night.
But there is no tension, people are making this up as they go with every little piece of stage banter. Anyone who knows this band knows that they play with people's heads, both in their music and in their attitudes. It is part of the fun.

Another good show last night. The week was a lot of fun. If some people found it transcendent, good for them. Regardless of what you think, it was a great sendoff for the band if these were truly their last shows in New York. Can't beat four straight sold out show in Central Park with big crowds loving the shows.

This show was the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed. People will complain about setlists and songs they wish they played all day but Pavement did something really special towards the end of this show. They deconstructed and reinvented their songs right in front of us. They stripped em down, changed em around and really played with em. This is what live concerts are supposed to be like, further adaptions and inventions of the originals. Don't go to concerts to hear the song sound exactly like the album. The real beauty of this show started with the amazing jam and solo towards the end of 'The Hexx'. Then followed a slowed down, almost collapsed 'We Dance' which they really tweaked by speeding it up and slowing it down. From this point forward their songs would cease to appear like their original selves. Stop Breathin' was the song of the night, it was a shot to my heart they won't leave me for a long long time. Elevate Me Later and Here were gorgeous choices as set closers but we all knew more beauty was coming. Rattled by the rush sounded spot on and was played with more emotion than I've seen as I truly feel SM loves performing this song. This concert was an emotional experience for me and a lot of fans... this band has always been there for me. I identify and remember parts of my life by what album was out at that time and nearly every song brings back vivid memories and feelings. These guys will truly be missed and I feel honored have called them my favorite band for the last 16 years. They are the epitome of slack rock, caring just enough that it appears they aren't trying. Their lyrics are happy, sad, political, goofy and always poignant. Their songs are like complex symphonies with lots of changes and crescendos that send you up and up and up then slam you down but always leave you smiling. Thanks for the comeback guys and especially for doing it for the right reasons. We love you pavement, thank you Stephen, thank you Spiral Stairs, thank you Treble Kicker, thank you Gary, thank you Mark and thank you Steve.

Thanks 12:51....I had a gret time last night! The show was awesome, not amazing, but a great time. Came up from Philly and thought it was such a solid, fun outdoor show! On the bus back home, thinking about the setlist, so glad I was able to see Pavement. Rock hard, rock on!

went to all five. tuesday and friday were the best: tuesday for the stage banter (Bob was trashed!) and friday for generally on-pointness and killing it. some of malkmus' guitar solos last night bordered on face-melting.

And last night they played 'No Life Singed Her,' which was the song that actually got me into the band, as while it seems easy now, a simple verse/chorus reversal, and the time it really seemed like they were cutting new cloth.

They did sorta muff Range Life last night trying to accommodate the keyboardist, instead of just blasting out bolts of big sound.

For my money, both shows we're better than anytime I saw them before the break-up.

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I was there last night and thought it was outstanding. It's the only show I've seen this tour, so I can't compare it to anything else, but it seemed pretty tight to me. Agree with the person who said SM was occasionally "face-melting" at points last night.

Why all of the Bob N. hate? He's been doing the same exact shit for 20 yrs. You people are surprised/annoyed by him? You must not have been paying close attention all of these years.

And not trying to sound like a dick, but I too couldn't help but noticing the crowd was indeed dominated by smug 20-somethings who seem not to know or care about most of the Slanted songs. This is a little disappointing to me. That's fine if you got into Pavement when Brighten or Terror came out, but you do realize that these were the weaker albums, right? Its almost missing the whole point. The fact the crowd got really excited about Shady Lane was bizarre to me. I wanted to go to the bathroom during that song. Also the obnoxiously loud and wasted 20-something community college frat boy stading in front of me who was shirtless and wearing whitewashed jeans (and not in an ironic way) was really annoying. Just sayin.

all I can say as an "old man" (SM and SS's exact age), was that Tuesday's show had a really nice mix of people from their teens to their fifties, with the majority seeming to be 30/40's.
Everyone seemed to respect one another. This was in the general stage floor area. I'm sure others saw it another way, but to this pre-BBurgh hummus eater, it was a warm and excellent atmosphere.

I inadvertently scalped a counterfeit ticket and wasn't allowed inside. Words cannot describe the disappointment I felt, but I did stick around for half the set outside the gate and the sound was still fairly crisp.

Show was amazing, and no, there weren't any tensions. Spiral messed up the begining of elevate me later and malkmus assumed this kind of 'stern parent' pose, but they were both laughing about it as they went back into the song. They're just fucking around with each like friends do all the time. And mark just startled malkmus when he started talking into the mic because it was so loud! Compared to any bootlegs I've seen from the early days they looked like they were all having a great time.

W/r/t bob - cmon let's face it, if malkmus didn't want him in the band he wouldve been gone long ago. He kind of has the crowd-pleasing stage prescence the others don't and enthusiasm keeps everyone else amped and with a smile on their face.

That's just my take. The only question now is whether they're gonna stay together?

I went Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday was slightly better, but both shows were really outstanding. And also, the crowds, especially Tuesday, deserve a small shout-out, really into the music and easy-going. Some talking here and there, but nothing to complain about given that these were outdoor shows in beautiful Central Park with nice September weather.

yes, tuesdays crowd was varied and genuinely cool, with everyone seeming to embrace the variety of ages etc.

The one serious caveat to what most people seem to feel was the best show was the relative lack of Slanted favorites - it had the least, at 4 songs from it. The last night had 6, and the selections were closer to fan favorites in the other shows, Summer, Loretta, Zurich, Here, States, etc. Conduit, Perfume, Desert and Trigger were played on Tues., so again, luck of the draw I guess, but....not enough. This was the original show announced....should have been more generous in that way perhaps. But aside from this, it was stellar.

I went to williamsburg and final night. At the former, I was just happy to listen to Pavement play for the first time in a over a decade that it didn't matter and what they looked like and how they sounded. At the latter, I go to revel in a great rock band that sounded muscular, tight and very much into it on a warm but cleari indian summer night. I thought SM's solos were looser and more fervent than i remember them from the first go round. Friday's show was terrific all around (other than the beats, who seemed like practical joke).